UD Alumnus Honored as Transformational Leader in Education
Three-time alumnus Lamont Browne, BE02, EHD04M, 09EdD, was recently presented with one of the most prestigious awards in education: the Ryan Award, a national honor recognizing transformational school principals that includes a $25,000 honorarium.
Established by the Accelerate Institute, the Ryan Award recognizes principals of urban schools who have demonstrated accelerated results in underserved schools with a significant population of low-income and minority students.
Browne is chief executive officer and executive director of EastSide Charter School and Family Foundations Academy in Wilmington, Delaware.
In 2011, he became head of school for EastSide, the first charter school in the country to be founded in cooperation with a public housing authority. At that time, the majority of the school’s low-income, high-need student population struggled to meet academic benchmarks on state assessments, with only 28 percent of students scoring “proficient” in reading and 37 percent in mathematics.
To address this daunting gap in student achievement, Browne focused his efforts on enhancing teaching instruction and professional development. Partnering with three other charter schools, he developed the Teaching Excellence Framework, an alternative teacher evaluation system that included regular, unannounced classroom observations, individualized feedback and plans of action for improving classroom instruction.
In addition to professional development, Browne fosters a positive environment for EastSide students and encourages community engagement.
“We want our students to have a sense of who they are and that they are very valuable,” he says. “Our goal is to help them develop a great deal of confidence, become productive members of society and provide them with an opportunity to give back.”
Three years into Browne’s tenure, the academic performance of EastSide Charter rose dramatically, with 58 percent of students achieving proficiency in reading (an increase of 30 percentage points), and 63 percent reaching proficiency in math (an increase of 26 percentage points).
Central to Browne’s leadership philosophy is his commitment to educational equity and underserved, urban schools.
“I am driven to provide students from disadvantaged backgrounds and underrepresented ethnic groups with the quality education that is often taken for granted in suburban neighborhoods and often non-existent in the inner city,” he says. “All students deserve the opportunity to become successful and productive members of our society, regardless of their race, class, culture or geographic residence.”
Not one to rest, Browne joined the University of Delaware this fall as an adjunct instructor in the Delaware Academy for School Leadership’s Principal Preparation Program. This new program offers individuals with a master’s in education and teaching experience an alternate route to principal certification.
